Why Does the Bible Have So Much Prophecy?

The Bible’s prophecies about Germany are accurate. The Trumpet’s warnings, and those of the Plain Truth before us, are proving to be true. These prophecies uttered thousands of years ago and canonized in the Bible are now coming to pass before our astonished eyes.

Fulfilled prophecy is one of the greatest proofs of God’s existence and of the inspiration of the Bible. No man could possibly bring those events about.

Many people claim to know God. But how many really know the Almighty God of prophecy? Most people pay little attention to this crucial third of the Bible. But if you ignore prophecy, you do not really know the true God.

Understanding how and why God reveals prophecy teaches you a lot about Him. God doesn’t give prophecy to entertain us or merely to reveal His power and supremacy. Bible prophecy is God’s warning to you about your future. Will you listen and respond?

The Ultimate Author of Prophecy

The source of true prophecy is not any man, not a righteous prophet, nor an angel. It is not even Jesus Christ, who Himself said He did not know the timing of His own return (Matthew 24:36), an event at the center of all end-time prophecies.

The ultimate source of true prophecy is God the Father.

Read the first verse of the book of Revelation, the greatest book of prophecy in the Bible: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.”

This verse clearly says “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” was given to Him by God—God the Father! The Father gave it to His Son, who delivered it to an angel, who gave it to a man, the Apostle John. Yet most Bible publishers title the book “The Revelation of St. John the Divine,” introducing confusion and entirely ignoring the divine Source. This is one clear example of why, in the world today—full of evangelists, preachers and self-proclaimed prophets—none truly understands Bible prophecy.

The fact that prophecy originates with the Most High God is deeply inspiring. It shows the weight God places on prophecy. And very few understand this, but it also highlights the government structure of the God Family. It all points back to God the Father.

Though traditional Christianity asserts that Jesus is the center of the gospel message, Jesus Himself said: “[M]y Father is greater than I” (John 14:28). He came to Earth to declare the Father (John 1:18). The Father is the God Being who is and always will be the Head of the entire God Family. We can only truly understand prophecy when we keep the Father in the picture.

Bible prophecy reveals God the Father, His love for you and His plans for your future.

God Must Reveal His Truth

How does God reveal His truth? Again we must look to the Bible. In Revelation 1:1, we saw God revealed that prophecy through Christ, through an angel, to a man named John.

Here is another towering lesson we must learn: God specifically reveals the meaning of His prophecies through individuals of His choosing.

Matthew 11:25 says God the Father hides His truth “from the wise and prudent.” Among the world’s scholars, you will scarcely find anyone willing to humble himself before God to receive revelation. We cannot look to them to understand God’s Word and His prophecies.

Throughout the Bible, we see God revealing His truth to specific human leaders. God worked with Noah, Abraham, Moses, the prophets and the apostles. If people wanted to know God’s revelation, they had to seek it from these men. This truth is reinforced in multiple passages. Consider:

• Amos 3:7: “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”
• Ephesians 3:3-5: “[B]y revelation he [God] made known unto me [the Apostle Paul] the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.”
• 1 Corinthians 2:7-10: “[W]e speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”
• 2 Peter 1:19-21: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy [Spirit].”

The Bible is unlike any other text in the world. Every word was directly inspired by God and cannot be understood without God revealing it—and He does that through “his servants the prophets.”

1 Peter 1:12 shows that even angels do not understand Bible prophecy until God the Father reveals it to human beings.

That is why Bible prophecy is not of any “private interpretation.”

Thus we see two significant reasons why the world of religion does not understand Bible prophecy: First, people do not honor God the Father, the Source of revelation; and second, they reject His human messenger.

“God’s revealed word doesn’t come from men,” explains Gerald Flurry in The Epistles of Peter—A Living Hope. “The word prophet in the Old Testament means ‘an interpreter of God.’ In other words, God revealed Himself to these men, and they taught what He revealed! They would have been powerless without the Holy Spirit moving them. They were moved by the Holy Spirit. This is how God speaks to mankind. God gives each person on Earth the responsibility to know when men are moved by the Holy Spirit.”

Once you have proved that God exists, that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, you must prove who God’s human messenger is.

All this can be done through Bible prophecy. Prophecy is a significant means by which God reveals both Himself and the men through whom He is working.

A study of the astounding work done through the decades-long ministry of the late Herbert W. Armstrong shows that God was behind that man. Today, it is is clear that He is working through Gerald Flurry. In the writings of these two men, you aren’t simply reading the teachings of astute Bible scholars—you are reading revelation given by the living Creator God to His servants—and given for specific reasons!

Advance Knowledge

Look once more at Revelation 1:1: It tells us that God gives us prophecy “to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.” God gave this prophetic message to show us things that are about to happen—before they do. Only the omnipotent God can do that. No false god would be capable of it. (Read God’s challenge to impotent idols in Isaiah 41:21-24; also Psalm 33:10-15.)

God says through the Prophet Isaiah, “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9-10). When God says something, He ensures it happens. He follows through. We can have absolute confidence in the God of prophecy. Like Abraham, we can be “fully persuaded that, what he [God] had promised, he was able also to perform” (Romans 4:21). That is faith.

Why does God want us to know in advance that certain things will happen?

There are times when we only recognize the accuracy of a prophecy after it comes true. Christ specifically told His disciples that as we see prophecies fulfilled, it should vindicate God in our minds and strengthen our faith: “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe” (John 14:29).

Often, however, God gives prophecy as a warning to the rebellious and as a motivator to the righteous (2 Peter 3:10-12).

In His great Olivet prophecy, Jesus Christ gave His disciples several signs to watch for in advance of His Second Coming, and said, “[W]hen ye shall see all these things, know that it [the day of His return] is near, even at the doors” (Matthew 24:33). Like many of the Bible’s prophecies, these were advance warnings that should keep us attuned to the urgency of the time we live in.

It is through prophecy that God warns us of the consequences of disobedience to Him. Many prophecies foretell of judgment coming on the wicked and terrifying punishments befalling rebellious people. God gives them for the same reason a loving parent warns his disobedient child before disciplining him: It is a prod to correct our behavior and to turn us to Him. “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11).

Prophecy is an expression of God’s mercy. He wants to help us avoid punishment and receive blessings. Bible prophecy is a warning. We must take these invaluable warnings seriously—believe God—and act.

When we come to understand there is a God orchestrating events and bringing His prophecies to pass, we see the seriousness of His warnings and we recognize our responsibility to obey Him. It is highly motivating spiritually! As Christ said after giving the signs of His return, “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. … Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 24:42, 44). Knowing the shortness of time incites us to be ready by following after righteousness.

The Beauty of Repentance

The Trumpet magazine is built on the prophecies God has revealed forewarning of the future of Germany and Europe, of America and Britain, of the Middle East, of Asia. It shows where today’s momentous events are taking this world.

What effect has prophecy had on you, reading about it in each issue? Has it made a spiritual impact? Has it proved the existence of the living God to you? Has it built your faith in the God who inspired and revealed these prophecies? Has it shown you where God is working?

There are many people who have heard what Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Flurry have taught and say, If this or that prophecy comes to pass, then I will believe God sent him. Thus they dismiss all the prophecies that have already been fulfilled.

And then, all too often, when the prophecy does come to pass, they still do not act!

If that is your attitude, then heed Jesus Christ’s admonition in Matthew 12:39-40: “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

What is the connection to Jonah the prophet? Mr. Flurry explains: “The Jews could observe and prove that Christ was in the grave three days and three nights. By this sign, they could prove that Jesus Christ truly was the Son of the living God—their very Creator, who is far greater than the Prophet Jonah.

“Then if they understood and believed this sign, they could learn a vital lesson. The people of Nineveh repented when Jonah warned them” (Jonah: A Strong Warning to God’s Church).

You can read this inspiring story in the book of Jonah. God’s prophet delivered a warning: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4). That is a prophecy. Here was the reaction: “So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them” (verse 5). The king proclaimed that the people should “turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?” (verses 8-9).

How did God respond? “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not” (verse 10). He withheld His punishment!

What a powerful illustration of the power of prophecy—and the beauty of responding to it as God intends!

When Jesus brought up this example to the faithless people of His day, He concluded with this fierce condemnation: “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here” (Matthew 12:41).

The people to whom Christ was speaking refused to repent—and they ended up killing Him.

God wants us to react to a great many of His prophecies the same way the Ninevites did: by simply believing Him, having faith that what He says is true—before the words of the prophet come to pass—and repenting.

If we reject all the evidence God lays before us, if we cling to our skepticism and, as Christ said, are always “seeking after a sign” that God’s prophecies are sure, we will find ourselves in the midst of the prophesied Great Tribulation before we repent!

Believe His Prophets

What does God expect us to do instead? The answer is simple: “… Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper” (2 Chronicles 20:20). We need to not only believe God but also believe His prophets. This leads us to repent of our evil ways, to follow God and honor the Father—and to support the man He has chosen.

God the Father is about to send His Son to this Earth a second time—this time in power and glory! What is uppermost in God’s mind is the restoration of His government on Earth (Acts 3:19-21). By revealing the prophecies of the Bible to one man, God begins this restoration process. Prophecy thus not only shows where God is working but also impels us to come under this government and to accept God’s wonderful way of life that it teaches and administers.

In the four decades since Mr. Armstrong’s death in 1986, God has continued to reveal His secrets to one man, an apostle. Today God’s warning message of coming events, as well as the good news of the wonderful World Tomorrow—the work started through Mr. Armstrong—continues to be trumpeted around the world by this work as a witness.

You can escape the horror of the next few years by heeding that witness. Prove the prophecies of the Bible. Recognize the Author behind those prophecies, the all-powerful God who inspired them and is now bringing them to pass. Honor the Father by turning your heart to Him. Believe in Him, so shall you be established. And find and support the man He is using and the work that man is leading. Believe His prophets, so shall you prosper!